Jade Mellor

Doing a bit of research for a jewellery feature I came across Jade Mellor's work & had to share it. I am definitely feeling the importance of marble, sedimentary and petrified materials for the next few seasons, moving on from the natural quartz and colored crystals that have populated costume collections.

Jade Mellor's Malachite ring, (first image) perfectly captures that ancient, amazing natural beauty, with all of the natural imperfections and tonal variations celebrated in a small, wearable piece of art.

The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant

Last week I went to see the Rainer Werner Fassbinder film 'The Bitter Tears Of Petra Von Kant', as part of the TEST presents... series of fashion film shown in different locations around London.

A colleague raved about it before I went to see it, claiming it was one of his favourite films, I was then a bit dubious..... but it was one of the more interesting things I've seen in a while.

As part of the Test presents series a designer of fashion professional chooses the film and does a little intro and Q & A afterwards, and this month was the turn of illustrator/ designer/ film maker Julie Verhoven, who's work I have always liked. The film was an obvious choice for her and there were a number of aesthetic traits that have clearly influenced or underlined her signature style.

The story surrounds an intensely emotional  fashion designer, Petra Von Kant, bitter and reclusive after a recent divorce, and on meeting a young woman named Karin, she throws herself into an all-consuming affair, which ultimately doesn't end well.

The whole film takes place in her flat/ studio, dressed in luxurious, rich textures and colors, only outdone by the amazing costumes that Petra stalks around in. From a fashion point of view, this film is pure inspiration, with a lasting effect of daydreaming over the subtle undertones and intense relationships played out in the narrative.

Tumblrrrrrrrr

Hey! I started a Tumblr. Check it out.

fosterclaire.tumblr.com

Jun Kaneko

No I am by no means an expert in the Contemporary Ceramics Movement, but these pieces by Jun Kaneko are just amazing.

Access denied

All images Celine Cruise 2012


I love Celine, you love Celine, everyone loves Celine... and the recent interview in the Independent with Pheobe Philo which highlights her disregard of media coverage pre and during any of the presentations reveals a refreshing point of view:

"Do you hate being interviewed?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I just feel it's really unnecessary."

"But it's a requirement of the job?"

"It is. But I think that the clothes say it all much better than I can. I always find it strange after a show when everybody comes backstage and says: 'What was it all about'? It's like: 'You've just seen it. What do you mean?' My instinct is to say: 'What did you think? What did you get from it?' And yet they want you to fill in even more.

"To me, the show is quite a complete story. There's nothing more for me to say and, anyway, it doesn't matter what it was meant to say. It's out there. It can be whatever anyone watching it thought it was, surely."

"Once the show has happened there's no need to control any image," she says, "but I don't like the idea of people sending out images before we've even done it. We don't allow anyone to do that. I don't like all that 'model backstage standing around having her picture taken in a stupid pose'." 

Tiny Treasures

This is sand!
Magnified over 250 times the normal scale and photographed these images are of humble grains of sand.
"It is incredible to think when you are walking on the beach you are standing on these tiny treasures"
Professor Gary Greenberg spent 5 years searching the globe to collect these beautiful specimens.
You can see more on his website sandgrains.com.

Going Public

As part of my day job, Accessories Editor at Stylesight, and the continuous fight against mediocrity in accessories coverage I started a blog.
Stylesight is a subscription based platform for the fashion industry, but good news! The blog is public!
Take a look ...................www.blog.stylesight.com/accessories